Did you Know: ‘Powerpuff Girls’ was intended to be adapted into a live-action series

• A live-action version of Powerpuff Girls could still work if it stays true to the original characters’ ages, unlike the failed adaptation plans.
• The ideal age for a live-action Powerpuff Girls would be their teenage years, allowing for interesting storylines and character development.
• The CW’s live-action Powerpuff Girls plan faced criticism for making the girls too old, proving that jumping to adulthood would have been a drastic change from the original concept.

A live-action version of Powerpuff Girls could work, even though the recent adaptation plans failed, but it needs to stay closer to the characters’ original ages. A live-action version of Powerpuff Girls was announced in August 2020, and it spent a long time in development. In May 2023, The CW, which handled the project, announced it was officially stepping away from it. However, the live-action series might still work with the right details.

Powerpuff Girls was originally an animated series on Cartoon Network, created by Craig McCracken, premiering in 1998, and running for 6 seasons and 78 episodes. It followed three kindergarten-aged girls, Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup, who had special powers and protected the world from villains. Some of the best animated shows, including anime like One Piece, have become successful live-action projects ), it could also work with Powerpuff Girls, but only if this adaptation keeps the essence of the characters.

A Live-Action Powerpuff Girls Could Work With The Main Characters As Teens

The Characters Would Still Change From The Animated Series

The canceled Powerpuff Girls live-action series never intended to keep the ages of the original characters, but a new live-action project could work with the main characters as teens. Although the Cartoon Network show focused on the three girls as kindergarten students, a live-action version with slightly older characters would not be a bad idea. However, the characters shouldn’t be much older than the ones in the original animated series, which is exactly the problem that the canceled project encountered.

The perfect age for a live-action Powerpuff Girls would be with the characters in their teenage years. People are familiar with the three of them as little girls, but it would be very interesting to see how their lives turned up as they grew up. Plus, seeing them balance teenage years, high school, and discovering themselves would create fun adventures while they also team up to save the world. It would also be an interesting way of keeping everything that happened in the original animated series as “canon.”

The CW’s Live-Action Powerpuff Girls Plan Made The Girls Too Much Older

The Live-Action Shouldn’t Have The Girls In Their 20s

The CW’s Powerpuff Girls live-action had been in development for a long time, yet it also received a lot of backlash for its age choices. For the series, the new project had a different approach when it came to the popular characters and planned to have Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup as disillusioned young adults in their 20s. The animated series’ creator, Craig McCracken, disagreed with the age choices, saying, “If they’re adults, that’s just three super girls who don’t have to deal with being kids,” (via Los Angeles Times). While that could’ve been interesting, jumping to adulthood would have been way too jarring.

“I had one meeting with them and I told them, ‘When you turn them into adults, they’re no longer the Powerpuff Girls because if they’re adults, that’s just three super girls who don’t have to deal with being kids.’ That’s a completely different show.”

The Powerpuff Girls live-action series had some big names attached to the project already. It would’ve been produced by Warner Bros. Television Studios was the prod, with Heather Regnier and Diablo Cody as screenwriters, and Maggie Kiley as director. The Arrowverse’s Sarah Schechter and Greg Berlanti would act as executive producers, and Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault were cast as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, respectively. Although this live-action version is not happening anymore, Craig McCracken himself is involved in an animated reboot of Powerpuff Girls with Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe.

Source: https://screenrant.com/live-action-powerpuff-girls-work-cw-age-too-far/